A lifeline to academics at risk since 1933, Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics) was set up in 1933 by academics and scientists in the UK as a rescue mission in response to the Nazi regime’s decision to expel many of Germany’s leading academics from their posts, on racial and political grounds.
Cara’s founders defined their task as 'the relief of suffering and the defence of learning and science'; and between 1933 and 1939 they helped some 2000 people to safety, with their families. Many of those helped then went on to achieve great things, including winning sixteen Nobel Prizes; their skills and knowledge helped to transform many areas of intellectual life in the UK.
Eighty-five years on Cara is a global leader in its field; working to help academics from all around the world who fear for their freedom, their safety, even their lives. It enjoys the strong support of some 120 universities in the UK and a growing number abroad who are hosting ‘Cara Fellows’ - academics who have been forced into exile, with their families - until, as most of them hope, they can one day return home. In addition, Cara’s regional programmes provide innovative and effective support to academics who are working on in their country despite the risks, or who have been forced into exile nearby. The most recent, Cara’s Syria Programme, is so far the only international programme to focus on supporting and developing Syrian academics in exile in the region around Syria, with some 200 individuals likely to be engaged in programme activities in 2019.
www.cara.ngo
